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Cincinnati Babies
teacherjulie
member
Crazy mom here
teacherjulie
member
I feel like a crazy neurotic mom. Alice is 17 months and only has a vocabulary of 6 words. Ma, da, do = dog, hi, hello, no. She will repeat some sounds ahh uhhh lots of uh ohs.
Is this normal or should I worry
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Re: Crazy mom here
J didn't *really* talk until around 20 months. He'll be 27 months, tomorrow, and I couldn't even begin to guess at the total number of words in his vocabulary. He speaks in complex sentences/questions, and comes up with something new, every day. Don't worry, it'll come. Just continue to read (and otherwise talk) to her. Also, I believe that exposure to educational (and age appropriate) television programming (used as a guided activity, not merely as a replacement/distraction) is helpful, in moderation.
I brought up my concerns to DD's pedi at her 18 month appointment when she only had 2 words (dada and dog). At her 2 year appointment, she was up to 10 words and they sent us for a hearing and speech evaluation. Her hearing was fine but she qualified for speech therapy. She did 6 months of speech therapy and we go back in a few weeks to have her re-evaluated.
Having been in your shoes, I know it's hard not to worry! To help me keep my concerns in check, I kept a list of DD's words. She has never went through a language explosion like many kids do so it's been quite easy to write her new words down. I'd also write down nonsense words that DD used on a regular basis (for example, she said "boof" instead of "fish" for a long time). It's difficult not to compare her to other kids her age, but I try very hard to focus on how far she has come and not how far behind she seems.
The PPs have already given you the advice I would give.. keep reading to her. Sing songs. Talk to her all day long. Try to get her to repeat you. DD's therapist taught her a few signs to cut down on frustration at first (more, eat). Good luck!
It is really really hard not to worry. DS has a significant speech delay, and at 18 mos we had 5 words. Pedi told us not to worry. At 2 years, we hadn't made much progress. We got a speech eval.
First question: Is she using them in the right context?
If so, that's a good thing. I think 6 words is ok at this point... if she gets to 2 and still has those 6 words and no more, then I would ask for a speech eval either through Children's or Help Me Grow.
Sign language does help with frustration. We have a ton of signs, but most of them we've taught him in the last 6-8 mos because of all the frustration he was having.
We've done a lot of therapy since November... we had an evaluation done at Children's as well as through Help Me Grow (HMG). HMG comes to our house once/week for therapy, and we go to Children's every other week for therapy as well. DS is still under 20 words, but has 25-30 signs. He understands everything... just doesn't talk much. We're just now in the real babbling stage... he's trying to make sounds all the time, but we're closing in on 3. (before now, he'd babble, but not all the time). Now, because of his significant delay, we'll be heading to preschool through our school district in the fall.
Anyway, it's really hard not to worry, but many many kids do go through a huge language explosion just before or after their 2nd birthday. If you don't think your child is babbling a ton or suspect a bigger problem, you can request an eval through HMG for free. However, given that she's just 17 mos, I'd wait until she's closer to 2 to do this.